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What is your most absurd belief?

Posts

All war, pain, and hate can be resolved with communication, selflessness, and aboloshing the idea of currency. Since the beginning human kind, we have given value to random things: at first, food (livestock and farmable foods) which makes sense - but then shiny things that we can dig up from the ground, later melted and fashioned metals, then paper from fucking trees. Now its plastic. Money is the root of all evil, and we came up with the idea.

I also like to think that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.

I also like to think that science does an amazing job of searching for the answer (whatever the fuck that is), but it will never find it. The real answer is to fucking enjoy life.

All war, pain, and hate can be resolved with communication, selflessness, and aboloshing the idea of currency. Since the beginning human kind, we have given value to random things: at first, food (livestock and farmable foods) which makes sense - but then shiny things that we can dig up from the ground, later melted and fashioned metals, then paper from fucking trees. Now its plastic. Money is the root of all evil, and we came up with the idea.

Money is as basic and necessary as writing until we come up with a way to have essentially unlimited resources.

Against all observational evidence, I believe that being able to have long, interesting, fun conversations with someone is symptomatic of mutual romantic attraction.

Can't tell you how many situations I've made awkward with that belief. It even convinces me that I'm attracted to people when, after sitting back and examining my feelings (barf), I realise that I'm not that interested in them beyond what they have to say.

All war, pain, and hate can be resolved with communication, selflessness, and aboloshing the idea of currency. Since the beginning human kind, we have given value to random things: at first, food (livestock and farmable foods) which makes sense - but then shiny things that we can dig up from the ground, later melted and fashioned metals, then paper from fucking trees. Now its plastic. Money is the root of all evil, and we came up with the idea.

Money is as basic and necessary as writing until we come up with a way to have essentially unlimited resources.

I like to believe that the day everyone as a species decides to stop worrying about "what's in it for me?" and begins to focus on "What can i do to make things better for others?", world peace is just around the corner.

As my boy Albert E. said:

It is high time the ideal of success should be replaced with the ideal of service ... Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

I believe that people do things that make sense (in my mind). I am consistently reminded that this is not the case, but the belief is kind of ingrained.

I also believe that is is not contradictory to hold contradicting beliefs. Not really one I justify.

I believe people are fundamentally stupid. Some people might consider this absurd, I guess.

I believe the human brain is an electrochemical computer (as in thing that can compute, I use the term extremely loosely and non-technically, I don't think brains are necessarily turing complete or anything like that). Basically that consciousness is totally non-mystical, totally understandable and totally replicate-able. I believe that humans are driven almost exclusively by instinct, even when it feels like we're being rational. This is where "humans are stupid" comes from too.

Against all observational evidence, I believe that being able to have long, interesting, fun conversations with someone is symptomatic of mutual romantic attraction.

Can't tell you how many situations I've made awkward with that belief. It even convinces me that I'm attracted to people when, after sitting back and examining my feelings (barf), I realise that I'm not that interested in them beyond what they have to say.

God I do the same thing. I usually don't get in trouble with it, but I have to keep an eye on my behavior.

Actually now that I think about it, it seems that girls become interested in me after conversations like that more than the other way around. I wonder why that would be.

I think that some hippy things like acupuncture and ayurvedic medicine have a high enough rate of success to warrant serious investigation and refinement and incorporation into true medical practice if positive results are found.

They have been and they work exactly as well as sugar pills. Tests on acupuncture have shown that the results happen whether you actually perform the acupuncture or not and that they only manifest results in people who believe it will work.

I've not read much on Ayurveda but my gut reaction is that it is largely horseshit folk medicine. In medicine the absence of evidence is sufficient to discard it as a treatment option.

Ok, that settles that about acupuncture, but Ayurveda, at least indirectly, can be used for something useful sometimes:

All war, pain, and hate can be resolved with communication, selflessness, and aboloshing the idea of currency. Since the beginning human kind, we have given value to random things: at first, food (livestock and farmable foods) which makes sense - but then shiny things that we can dig up from the ground, later melted and fashioned metals, then paper from fucking trees. Now its plastic. Money is the root of all evil, and we came up with the idea.

Money is as basic and necessary as writing until we come up with a way to have essentially unlimited resources.

I like to believe that the day everyone as a species decides to stop worrying about "what's in it for me?" and begins to focus on "What can i do to make things better for others?", world peace is just around the corner.

As my boy Albert E. said:

It is high time the ideal of success should be replaced with the ideal of service ... Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

Limed for truthiness and for being part of my absurd belief =)

I believe that the only way to make people do that would be to genetically or otherwise biologically modify them. I don't believe that environment alone is capable of changing human nature, but I do believe that human nature can be changed.

Reason alone isn't spiritually satisfying. Emotion and irrationality should be celebrated for the beautiful things they are. Balancing these two forces is the key to happiness.

(emotion isn't irrational - it's arational)

The absence of rationality is arationality, then?

I am using irrational as the opposite of rational. Because emotions often spit in the face of logic and rationality.

I've honestly never heard the word "arational" before.

Theyâ€™re neither rational nor irrational. They just are. How you choose to act upon them is rational or irrational. In fact, acting on something because you believe it will fulfil your emotional need is rational within reason. Though Iâ€™d be interested to know why you think this, because I believe the world would be a significantly better place if people started being rational more often.

I think the confusion stems from a different definition of "rational". I was working with the Spock definition of rational, considering Just The Facts with no regard for emotion. Maybe it's just because I've been reading about the Enlightenment lately, where fallible "reason" was used to justify things like sexism and racism.

All war, pain, and hate can be resolved with communication, selflessness, and aboloshing the idea of currency. Since the beginning human kind, we have given value to random things: at first, food (livestock and farmable foods) which makes sense - but then shiny things that we can dig up from the ground, later melted and fashioned metals, then paper from fucking trees. Now its plastic. Money is the root of all evil, and we came up with the idea.

I also like to think that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.

I also like to think that science does an amazing job of searching for the answer (whatever the fuck that is), but it will never find it. The real answer is to fucking enjoy life.

My belief that the vast majority of people are not idiots would probably be considered absurd.

My justification for it is that people are not stupid, but simply acting in what they believe to be their best interest. It may not be in their best interest, and honestly, whether or not it is in everyone else's best interest is way, WAY back on their list of priorities.

After all, how can we know what is in other people's best interest when we aren't even sure what is in our own? No one is omniscient.

So I guess that means I see disagreements in opinion (i.e. people are morons) as stemming from selfishness and efforts at self-preservation, not any sort of inherit stupidity. It probably doesn't hurt that whenever people say "The masses are idiots" or "People are idiots", they are almost overlooking the fact that they are guilty of what they've called "idiot" behavior.

That, and in my absurdity I'm tired of the raging hard-one society seems to have for the individual compared to its hatred for the group. If you love the individual so much, why don't you marry it!?

I mean they still call themselves the people's republic. That's just a mockery.

They've lifted untold millions out of absolute poverty? I mean, it still sucks, and I wouldn't want to breathe the air in Beijing on most days, but things have been far worse for China.

is the suppression of information and jailing of political dissidents necessary for that?

I know this is over and done, but speaking as someone who was born, raised, and voted for the incompetent government that the current Chinese Government replaced--it could be much worse. MUCH worse. Really, the KMT doesn't have many accomplishments to brag about in comparison: they lost to the communists, the Japanese, the Koreans, the Soviets, pretty much everyone they've ever had a disagreement with since they first formed. The up side? Well, they managed to steal a huge amount of China's best cultural swag in a shockingly short time and store it in my homeland.

while I'm otherwise a man of science and reject any religion/supernatural beliefs, my own experiences of intense/detailed deja vu leave the lingering suspicion in the back of my head that either precognition or predestination (well, both) exist.

either that or my brain is broken, which is actually much more likely.

First, I don't believe you're a special individual of a special species with special gifts that sets you apart from all the rest of creation. You are an animal, much the same as any other. You were born. You breed, if you're lucky. And then you die and decompose. I believe this is as true for the species as the individual - we are not special and glorious. We are the result of an evolutionary quirk that gives us an unusual capacity to control our own environment in many ways, but at the core we're pretty simply creatures. And one day we'll all be dead and gone, and very shortly afterwards everything will be pretty much the same as if we as a species had never existed.

First, I don't believe you're a special individual of a special species with special gifts that sets you apart from all the rest of creation. You are an animal, much the same as any other. You were born. You breed, if you're lucky. And then you die and decompose. I believe this is as true for the species as the individual - we are not special and glorious. We are the result of an evolutionary quirk that gives us an unusual capacity to control our own environment in many ways, but at the core we're pretty simply creatures. And one day we'll all be dead and gone, and very shortly afterwards everything will be pretty much the same as if we as a species had never existed.

Second, I think this is uplifting and right and very comforting.

Conversely, I believe that there is a very good chance that we are the most awesome entities in the universe. The probability of intelligent life developing may be so low that only the anthropic principle dictates that we're here.

An entity lifting itself out of a big, dumb universe into awareness is much more interesting than the setting itself. "Oh no, our species is so tiny and fleeting!" Oh yeah look at how big Jupiter is. Who cares, it's a ball of gas. Look at how long a star lives! Yeah, and it spends all its time fusing light elements into heavier elements. Amazing. But our brain structure and our civilization and our computers? Off the friggin' hook. And there's no guarantee it's going to stop here.

while I'm otherwise a man of science and reject any religion/supernatural beliefs, my own experiences of intense/detailed deja vu leave the lingering suspicion in the back of my head that either precognition or predestination (well, both) exist.

either that or my brain is broken, which is actually much more likely.

That is just your thalamus getting lazy and sending the wrong signals to the wrong part of the brain and then having to do it over again. That is what causes deja vu IIRC.

while I'm otherwise a man of science and reject any religion/supernatural beliefs, my own experiences of intense/detailed deja vu leave the lingering suspicion in the back of my head that either precognition or predestination (well, both) exist.

either that or my brain is broken, which is actually much more likely.

That is just your thalamus getting lazy and sending the wrong signals to the wrong part of the brain and then having to do it over again. That is what causes deja vu IIRC.

It's not precisely known what causes it. What you're talking about is one theory, where sensory information accidentally gets sent to long-term memory before it gets processed by the cerebral cortex, though I wouldn't call the thalamus being lazy.

The other theory is that, since our sensory organs are mostly paired, sometimes a signal from one sensory organ (eye, ear) arrives at the brain slightly before the other organ and the brain interprets it as two separate signals, giving the illusion of the same thing happening twice.

Of course, we all know that it's a glitch in the Matrix.

Premier kakos on April 2009

0

FeralＭＥＭＥＴＩＣＨＡＲＩＺＡＲＤalong with you if I get drunk well I know I'm gonna be gonna be the man whoRegistered Userregular

Theyâ€™re neither rational nor irrational. They just are. How you choose to act upon them is rational or irrational. In fact, acting on something because you believe it will fulfil your emotional need is rational within reason.

The limed statement is very true. Emotions are no more "rational" or "irrational" than a barometer reading.

An entity lifting itself out of a big, dumb universe into awareness is much more interesting than the setting itself. "Oh no, our species is so tiny and fleeting!" Oh yeah look at how big Jupiter is. Who cares, it's a ball of gas. Look at how long a star lives! Yeah, and it spends all its time fusing light elements into heavier elements. Amazing. But our brain structure and our civilization and our computers? Off the friggin' hook. And there's no guarantee it's going to stop here.

Maybe it's just the chemist in my talking, but I think nuclear fusion is pretty off the hook.

while I'm otherwise a man of science and reject any religion/supernatural beliefs, my own experiences of intense/detailed deja vu leave the lingering suspicion in the back of my head that either precognition or predestination (well, both) exist.

either that or my brain is broken, which is actually much more likely.

That is just your thalamus getting lazy and sending the wrong signals to the wrong part of the brain and then having to do it over again. That is what causes deja vu IIRC.

It's not precisely known what causes it. What you're talking about is one theory, where sensory information accidentally gets sent to long-term memory before it gets processed by the cerebral cortex, though I wouldn't call the thalamus being lazy.

The other theory is that, since our sensory organs are mostly paired, sometimes a signal from one sensory organ (eye, ear) arrives at the brain slightly before the other organ and the brain interprets it as two separate signals, giving the illusion of the same thing happening twice.

Of course, we all know that it's a glitch in the Matrix.

All of those explanations seem unsatisfying to me, because I've had deja vu that's lasted for quite some time and spanning several decisions of my own wherein after I do something I realize it's something I've done before (according to my feelings) and I try to come up with a novel action to break the sensation.

Against all observational evidence, I believe that being able to have long, interesting, fun conversations with someone is symptomatic of mutual romantic attraction.

Can't tell you how many situations I've made awkward with that belief. It even convinces me that I'm attracted to people when, after sitting back and examining my feelings (barf), I realise that I'm not that interested in them beyond what they have to say.

God I do the same thing. I usually don't get in trouble with it, but I have to keep an eye on my behavior.

Actually now that I think about it, it seems that girls become interested in me after conversations like that more than the other way around. I wonder why that would be.

Because you're a lucky fucker? Either that or you're already attractive to them and the conversation gives them a chance to demonstrate it.

People who wear sunglasses indoors should be punched. I mean, it's okay for a little while, like if you've just walked into a building and you're thinking about something else and you forget you're wearing sunglasses for a couple minutes. I'm guilty of that. But I've seen people at bars and (indoor) concerts wearing sunglasses. What the fuck is that.

People who wear sunglasses indoors should be punched. I mean, it's okay for a little while, like if you've just walked into a building and you're thinking about something else and you forget you're wearing sunglasses for a couple minutes. I'm guilty of that. But I've seen people at bars and concerts wearing sunglasses. What the fuck is that.

People who wear sunglasses indoors should be punched. I mean, it's okay for a little while, like if you've just walked into a building and you're thinking about something else and you forget you're wearing sunglasses for a couple minutes. I'm guilty of that. But I've seen people at bars and (indoor) concerts wearing sunglasses. What the fuck is that.

Before you go punching people who wear sunglasses indoors, remember one important life lesson:

Stevie Wonder could so kick your ass.

Lawndart on April 2009

0

FeralＭＥＭＥＴＩＣＨＡＲＩＺＡＲＤalong with you if I get drunk well I know I'm gonna be gonna be the man whoRegistered Userregular

People who wear sunglasses indoors should be punched. I mean, it's okay for a little while, like if you've just walked into a building and you're thinking about something else and you forget you're wearing sunglasses for a couple minutes. I'm guilty of that. But I've seen people at bars and (indoor) concerts wearing sunglasses. What the fuck is that.

I sometimes wear sunglasses indoors when I have a really, really bad headache.

Edit: but I wouldn't stay at a bar or concert with a headache that bad.

People who wear sunglasses indoors should be punched. I mean, it's okay for a little while, like if you've just walked into a building and you're thinking about something else and you forget you're wearing sunglasses for a couple minutes. I'm guilty of that. But I've seen people at bars and (indoor) concerts wearing sunglasses. What the fuck is that.

People who wear sunglasses indoors should be punched. I mean, it's okay for a little while, like if you've just walked into a building and you're thinking about something else and you forget you're wearing sunglasses for a couple minutes. I'm guilty of that. But I've seen people at bars and (indoor) concerts wearing sunglasses. What the fuck is that.